Late letters or incorrectly filed packages continue to cause trouble among German citizens. In June, the Federal Network Agency received almost 3,000 complaints about postal services, the Bonn authority said when asked by the dpa. In the same month last year there were only 1754 and in May around 2500. If you look at the entire first half of 2023, you can also see a significant increase: During this period, around 16,000 critical requests to speak were received by the supervisory authority, almost twice as many as in the same period last year, there were 8921.
The complaints are directed against the entire postal and parcel industry. In the vast majority of cases, however, it is about the market leader Deutsche Post. According to earlier information, its share of the critical statements was around 90 percent.
Especially a lot of complaints in October, November, December
However, if you compare the current figures with the second half of 2022, they are comparatively low – in the months of October, November and December, the number of complaints was about three times as high as in June 2023. Last year, delivery problems ensured that there were always more German citizens turned to the supervisory authority and vented their anger. At the beginning of November, the postal management admitted to local problems and justified this with staff shortages.
The monthly figures are now significantly lower again, but they are not yet at the normal level they were before the particularly critical period. This is tricky for Swiss Post, because federal politicians are currently working on the amendment to the outdated postal law. In the course of this reform, the Federal Network Agency could be given sanctions to tighten the reins on Swiss Post. So far she has no real leverage. It initiates so-called occasion tests, which are only words of warning. Depending on the outcome of the reform, the authority could impose fines in the future.
Post: Numbers of complaints are not very meaningful
From Swiss Post’s point of view, the number of complaints is not very meaningful. Many customers mistakenly attributed quality defects to Swiss Post, even though it was about problems with competitors. Internal evaluations of the duration of the shipment, the so-called transit times, complaints and customer satisfaction showed stable values. “Regardless of this, we are continuing our efforts to provide the population with reliable postal services and, if possible, to offer no cause for complaints,” said a Post spokesman.
He also pointed out that the almost two-week NATO exercise “Air Defender 23” in German airspace in June also had consequences for the post office and that the usual six letter transport planes per night could not be used during this time. But that certainly only explains part of the complaints, said the company spokesman.
